Parents issued truancy warrants for absent children

Parents in both Demopolis and Linden schools received truancy warrants within the past few weeks because their children have missed too much school without written excuses.

Marengo County Sheriff Richard Bates confirmed the warrants had been issued and that parents had shown up at the jail in Linden and had to pay bonds.

Both Demopolis City School Supt. Kyle Kallhoff and attendance officer Leon Clark denied that any parent has been in jail, but they did say that Alabama Code §16-28-12 requires parents to make sure their children attend school or have a written excuse.

The code states parents of children who have unexcused absences “shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction, shall be fined not more than one hundred dollars ($100) and may also be sentenced to hard labor for the county for not more than 90 days.”

Clark said the school system follows a process when a child is absent. After the first missed day, an automated call is made to the child’s home. Letters are sent after the second, third and fifth unexcused absence. The parent then is referred to the Pre-Truancy Warning Program and required to meet with Clark and with Virginia Norman, Juvenile Probation Officer, who explain the need for written excuses.

When there are additional unexcused absences after the Pre-Truancy Warning Program, a formal Truancy Petition is filed with the Juvenile Court System. If parents do not respond and the child continues to have unexcused absences, the parent can be issued a citation for contributing to the truancy of a child.

Clark said then the parents ultimately will be required to appear before District Judge Vince Deas.

“That’s something we don’t like to do,” said Clark. “Everything we do is open and transparent,” and parents are given tools to help them understand the need for children to be in school and have an absence excused in writing.

At least one parent has responded that the school system did not follow the protocol laid out in the Code of Conduct. Tiffany Mayton was one of the parents who had to pay a bond at the jail.

“It was/is a very upsetting issue for me and the parents who try to do everything to support the school district to lose our voice when things like this happen,” she wrote.

“I did not have to stay over night, but I was still processed and made to look like a criminal. My son who’s nine cried until they let me out. He felt like it’s his fault that this happened.

“They unfortunately did not follow the protocol that’s laid out on the city school page,” Mayton continued. “We should’ve received a parent meeting, not a warrant and $500 bond.”

Mayton said she has “plenty of proof to back up my statements.” 

All of the procedures are stipulated in the school system’s Attendance Manual, available from the Central Office and on-line.

Kallhoff said state law allows unlimited medical excuses for students. Parents are allowed five written excuses for the year.

If the parents don’t provide written excuses, it falls into truancy, said Clark. Only about 10 percent of the students in the system fall into that category, he added.

He said it seems some parents “don’t want to do the simple thing.”

Kallhoff said state law requires children from ages 6 to 17 to attend school. “We’re held accountable,” and truancy rates are part of the score that the school system receives every year. The requirements are part of the DSC Code of Conduct.

“Our partnership with the Juvenile Court System and Judge Deas is stronger than ever,” said Kallhoff.